Storage, distribution, and manipulation of data and information are common tasks associated with computer usage. Businesses frequently use computers to perform many tasks, including data storage, calculations, document creation, communications and the like. Similarly, more and more personal computer users rely extensively on computers to keep track of financial records, to manage personal documents, to surf the Internet and as communication tools.
Sending, receiving, and composing e-mail has become one of the primary uses for computers in our society. Over the past decade, use of e-mail for business, academic, and personal communications has skyrocketed. Many computer users have one or more e-mail addresses for receiving e-mail for business or personal reasons.
The use of e-mail for sending information generally involves the steps of addressing an e-mail to one or more intended recipients, composing the body of the e-mail, and possibly adding one or more attachments to the e-mail. An addressed e-mail may then be sent to the intended recipient. Upon receipt of an e-mail, a user may view the e-mail on a display device or print the e-mail to a connected printer for hardcopy reading. Other functions, such as forwarding, responding and the like may also be included as features found with a program for handling e-mail communications.
Typically, an e-mail address consists of two parts: a username and a hostname or domain name. The two parts of the e-mail address are separated by the symbol @. The username portion of an e-mail address designates the specific user's mailbox to which the e-mail should be directed. The host/domain name specifies the name of a host on the network providing an e-mail server for handling, sorting, and delivering e-mail messages. For example, the e-mail address “id001@deviceone.com” is routed to a network associated with the domain address “deviceone.com.” Once the network is found, the existence of a person or device associated with the identifier “id001” is searched for. If the identified person or device exists, the e-mail is delivered to the inbox for the entity identified as “id001.” The use of identifiers and domain name addresses for delivering e-mail messages is well known and further explanation thereof is omitted.
Use of the Internet is also continuing to expand. As the number of people surfing the Internet increases, the number of companies, organizations, and individuals creating web pages also increase. Some of the new web pages being created include personal web pages used by individuals to post personal information to the Internet. Others belong to small businesses wishing to attempt to get ahead and expand their sales base using the Internet. However, many people are unfamiliar with the programming skills necessary to program web pages in an efficient manner. Furthermore, many people will never post information to an Internet viewable location unless, and until, easy methods for accomplishing such posting are developed.
As the expansion of e-mail and Internet use continues, more and more individuals will begin to use these technologies. Already, the use of e-mail is becoming a preferred communication technique. The time consuming steps required for archiving e-mail messages, or converting information to Internet viewable format, are increasing as more people begin to use these technologies. Thus, a convenient and simple method and system for managing e-mail documents, including a method for posting information to the Internet, may be desirable.